


a moment between

by jennycaakes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Sixth Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 05:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5278259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennycaakes/pseuds/jennycaakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily notices that James is looking a little worse for wear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a moment between

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at James x Lily. Short and sweet, hope you like it!

It was a cool spring night and Lily was exhausted. She'd just finished her Transfiguration assignment and her hand was cramping from everything she wrote. She was more than ready to get to bed. But as she gathered up her books and supplies to head up to the girls' dormitory she spotted James Potter looking worse for wear.

He was sitting alone which was the first thing to make her pause. And he looked... distant. He stared down at his parchment with a look she normally didn't equate with James Potter. Before she knew what she was doing Lily walked in his direction, shuffling her books in her hands. 

“Potter,” she said, causing him to lift his head in her direction. Lily studied him for a moment, his obnoxiously rumpled hair and the dark lines under his eyes, before tipping her chin back. “You alright?”

James sighed, looking back toward his essay. “Fine,” he murmured. She knew it wasn’t on purpose as he ran his hands through his hair another time, making it even messier than before. “Just… fine.” He seemed distressed, and it wasn’t due to his lack of companions. She narrowed her eyes as he scratched off something on his parchment and with another sigh started scribbling in something else. “Something wrong, Evans?” he finally asked, looking up at her again. “Or am I just so handsome you can’t look away?”

Normally Lily would hear James say something like that and conclude that of course he wasn’t distressed, he was fine. But the way his voice was flat, the tired look in his eyes. She knew at once that something was wrong with him and she didn’t like it one bit.

He’d returned to staring down at his parchment with that same distant look, scratching away words she couldn’t make out from where she was standing. She fiddled with the books in her hand, shuffling her stance. “I was wondering if Remus was around,” she decided to say, knowing it would be easiest to enter this situation through the boy she was closest with in their group of friends. “I lent him my notes last week and—”

“Moony’s not feeling too well,” James cut her off. “But I’ll ask him tomorrow. Get them back to you at breakfast.”

Lily moved to sit in the empty seat across from him. “And Black?”

“Infirmary with Peter,” James said. “Defense spell gone wrong.”

“And you?” He looked up at her. “There’s something wrong with you, Potter. I’ve been here for five minutes and you haven’t asked me out once.”

A smile filled his face, and finally he laughed. “Forgive me, Evans,” James said as he looked back down at his paper, “but I think you might be flirting with me.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she responded, causing his smile to widen. Her eyes flickered to his paper. “What’re you working on?”

“Slughorn’s assignment,” he murmured, shaking his head slightly. “Sometimes Potions feels like second nature, other times it’s like I’m reading ancient runes, or something.” He shook his head another time, rumpling his hair once more.

“Let me see,” Lily said, reaching out to grab the paper without waiting for him to respond. James let her take the parchment and propped himself up on his elbow, watching as her green eyes flickered over everything that he’d written. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she read before finally looking up. “Sounds alright to me,” she said.

“And you’re the Potions Master,” he teased, “so that must mean I’ll pass.” Pursing her lips to hide her smile she slid the paper back to him. “Thanks, Evans.” She nodded once, but didn’t move from her seat. Their eyes met for a moment before James smiled again. “Worried about me?” he asked.

“Slightly,” she admitted. “From what I hear you haven’t hexed anyone in a few weeks now.”

James laughed. “And that worries you?”

“Slightly,” Lily said again, as though it was obvious. James Potter was not one to go weeks without a detention, everyone knew that. Although, they _were_ coming to the end of their sixth year, and his head _had_ deflated quite a bit. “Should it?”

“No,” he gently said, despite his smile. “It should impress you.” Lily rolled her eyes but finally smiled back, shaking her head ever so slightly. “We’ve all got stuff going on, Evans,” he finally said, his smile fading. “You don’t need to worry about mine, alright?” She had a feeling that whatever his _stuff_ was had nothing to do with a potions essay or Quidditch practice. Even more gently than before he said, “I’m alright, Lily.”

She sat up straight at once. This was much too familiar. “Well get some more sleep then,” she said, scooting out of her chair. “You look terrible.” Again James laughed, watching Lily stride away from his work table with her head held high. “And don’t forget to ask about my notes,” she called over her shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> Not that it matters too much but James is exhausted for a few reasons which I didn't feel he'd mention to Lily at this point. Remus not feeling well is full moon related, his potions assignment is making him feel awful because his dad's supreme at potions and he feels like he's struggling, and Sirius is going through a shit ton of home drama that makes James worry. But he's not too keen on mentioning any of that to Lily just yet (though she probably could pick up on a few things here or there).


End file.
